A method for processing a data signal, for instance, a data signal encoding a data bit stream which carries a sequence of data packets. The method includes accepting a protocol specification that includes specification of a number of elements, each specification including a length and a name, and optionally internal structure and actions. The specification of at least some of the elements includes at least one instruction for performing an action associated with the elements. For instance, the elements are sub-packets or data fields. The method also includes accepting a series of data packets and for each accepted packet, associating portions of the input packet with elements specified in the protocol specification. For each of the associated portions of the input packet, the method includes performing actions according to instructions included in the specification of elements associated with that portion of the input packet, for example by use of a subroutine call or passing a data message.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for processing a data signal comprising: accepting a protocol specification that includes a plurality of specifications of elements, each of said specifications including a length for encoding the element in the data signal and a name for the element, wherein the specifications of at least sorne of the elements are in terms of sequences of other of the plurality of elements, and the specification of at least some of the elements includes one or more instructions for performing an action associated with said elements and necessitated by the protocol specification; accepting a series of data packets formed from the data signal; for each accepted data packet, associating portions of said data packet with elements specified in the protocol specification; and for each of the associated portions of the input packet, performing any actions according to the instructions included in the specification of elements associated with that portion of the input packet.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions for performing the actions include programming language statements, and wherein performing said action according to the instructions includes executing the programming language statements.
3. The method of claim 2 further comprising processing the protocol specification to produce executable software that implements the associating of portions of input packets with elements specified in the protocol specification and the performing of actions associated with elements specified in the protocol specification.
4. The method of claim 2 wherein the protocol specification includes an object-oriented specification of elements, wherein names of components of an element are local to that element.
5. The method of claim 2 wherein the protocol specification includes for at least some of the elements an association of a numerical value identifying said element with a symbolic name for said element.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising processing the protocol specification to produce a hardware description, and wherein performing actions included in the specification of elements includes sending a message identifying a specified action.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein accepting the protocol specification includes accepting a specification for a telecommunication protocol.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein accepting the specification for the telecommunication protocol includes accepting sufficient information for unambiguously processing the data signal by associating different portions of the data signal with different elements specified in the protocol specification.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein accepting the specification for the telecommunication protocol further includes specification of error-handling actions.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein associating portions of said data packet with elements specified in the protocol specification includes associating at least some elements with portions of the data packet that are not aligned within said packet to a multiple of the length of said element.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein performing at least one of the actions of an element associate with said portion of the input packet includes sending a notification message that includes the name of said element and a value obtained from said portion of the input packet.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein performing at least one of the actions of an element associate with said portion of the input packet includes sending an acknowledgment packet in response to a data packet formed from the data signal.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein performing at least one of the actions of an element associate with said portion of the input packet includes transforming a format of data received in the data signal.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
July 23, 1999
March 12, 2002
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